Comments on: The Great Drywall of Dubuque?

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:53:37 +0000

From the blog Emdashes: Paul Noth Unlikely to Win Midwestern Delegates?

By: Margarita

Margarita — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:46:33 +0000

Here are a couple of "subtle humorous allusions to Dubuque" that are historically a bit older, but still seem worth noting to those who can't get enough of Dubuque trivia:

1. Mark Twain, To the Editor of the Dubuque Herald, 24 April 1874 2. Chris Lehane, Democratic strategist on whether Al Gore should run for president in 2008: "The guy is enormously happy, " Lehane said. "For him, the decision is: 'Let's see, could I make a lot of money and be on stage in front of a billion people, or would I want to be spending the next two years in a Holiday Inn in Dubuque, Iowa?'"

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:47:03 +0000

Another one, from a Sherman Oaks, California blog called Last Left Turn Before Hooterville

The Lost Continent of Atlantis Has Been Found – and it’s the Answer to the Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis!

DUBUQUE, Iowa — In an astounding discovery, a scientist has announced the most amazing archaeological find of the twenty-first century – the Lost Continent of Atlantis!

Can anyone spot more Dubuque references like this?

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:21:11 +0000

Here's one current example from the Thousand Oaks Acorn, a newspaper in California:

"Whether you're going to Dubuque, Disneyland or Dubai, Take Your Thousand Oaks Acorn on Vacation . . . . It's easy. Take a front page of any edition of the Acorn the next time you go on vacation. Have someone hold the front page so it's visible in the photograph with the background depicting scenery of wherever you are."

The idea of taking a vacation to Dubuque is humorous, especially in comparison to Disneyland or Dubai. And I think this use of Dubuque has more resonance than Paducah, Kalamazoo, or maybe even Timbuktu.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:50:39 +0000

Search results from the New Yorker's Cartoon Bank: Top results for Keyword: dubuque yielded 0 results. Top results for Keyword: iowa yielded 8 results. While Dubuque does not appear to be commonly used as an overt or formal punch line in jokes or cartoons, subtle humorous allusions to Dubuque are easy to spot online. I'll try to post more examples of these here.

By: erik hogstrom

erik hogstrom — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 00:56:28 +0000

“it’s not a place commonly found in punch-lines — unlike, say, New Jersey, Dubuque or Schenectady.”

How commonly is Dubuque found in punch-lines these days?